Monday, February 14, 2011

Why Pay For Schools When You Can Have The DNC?

Hooray for Charlotte! The DNC has chosen Charlotte as the host city for the convention in 2012. I am very excited to have an event to protest next year. However, someone pointed something out to me that I hadn't thought of until now: how are we going to pay for it?

Here is a quick rundown of the situation in North Carolina: teachers are being laid off in droves because we can't find money to keep them employed. The state is slated to lay off another 5300 teachers from our already-strained education system that is already ranked at 23rd in the nation. So lets cram more kids into already overburdened classrooms so they can be taught by underpaid and overworked teachers.

Social services are being slashed which will add to the crime rate and homeless rate because we can't find any money. What happens when mental health services are cut to people who are already living on the fringes of society? Homelessness, crime, and a load of people entering an overburdened prison system.

Those are just two very important aspects of our state and its lack of money. So please, someone explain to me how can Charlotte afford to spend $40 million on the DNC.

Even with restrictions the party has placed on corporate fund-raising, Foxx [Charlotte Mayor] said, "we will raise the money," estimated to be $40 million. "I have no doubts about that." He also said that "a lot of security dollars are going to come into our area."

So when your kids can't go to school and half of your family is on the streets because there are no care centers for those in need of mental health, ask the DNC why they needed to bring a party of Republicans-in-drag to our city and spend money that we don't have.